After an initial debut as a trial game in 2003, when it was
played at the WBC's on the day after it became available for
sale, Monty's Gamble joined the Century series of competition
games for 2004. A field of 20 players refought the Market Garden
campaign of September 1944 to break over the Rhine into Germany,
and finish the war before winter. The tournament game covers
the first four days of the historical battle and revolves around
the efforts of 30th Corps to drive up 'Hells Highway' to link
up with 101st in Eindhoven and 82nd in Nijmegen while German
forces attempted to hold off the Allied advance and reduce the
1st Airborne division in Arnhem itself.

A total of 16 games took place before the eventual final between
the game designer Mike Rinella and newcomer David Long. The players
preference for initial side ran 11 to 9 in favour of the Allies,
a preference which was borne out in play with the Allies winning
the first round 6 to 4, and the second 3 to 1. This trend was
only reversed in the third and final rounds with the Germans
taking all three. Thus the final scorebetween the sides was nine
for the Allies and eight for the Germans. The overall feeling
from the players being that the sides were reasonably balanced
but that the Allies were more fun to play.

Prizes were awarded for the fastest Allied capture of Nijmegen
and German capture of Arnhem. I was personally feeling quite
confident about gaining the former, with a 30th Corps capture
of Nijmegen on impulse B of the 19th, only to be shocked by my
next opponent, Jim Eliason walking away with that prize for a
82nd Airborne coup-de-main, seizing the city on impulse 4 of
the 17th, an impressive achievement which wasn't surpassed during
the competition.

While Nijmegen was regularly captured by the Allies, strong
movement by 30th Corps threatening Nijmegen and Oosterhout often
prevented the Germans from gathering the forces to destroy the
Arnhem garrison so there were relatively few German captures
of the city. Mike Rinella also took this prize for a first round
capture on the 19th, impulse 3.

In the final, Mike took Germans and David the Allies, his
30th Corps drive being initially beset with difficulties and
falling behind timetable as Rinella's Germans scrambled to block
the road. Clearing a critical blockage at Zeeland, David persevered
and was in position for an assault on Nijmegen on the 20th which
if successful would have given him the game. Rinella had substantially
reinforced the city and it was going to require a significant
series of bombardments and assaults to clear the defenders. The
game broke in Mike's favor with a successful artillery barrage
from across the Rhine from Pannerden into Beek where David's
82nd artillery battalions were poised to support the assault
on Nijmegen. With these units knocked out for the rest of the
day, David's assault forces were significantly weakened and despite
multiple attacks failed to clear Nijmegen of its defenders before
the day and thus the game ended. All in all, a well deserved
victory in a very tightly contested game.